2 Part Tharpanam

The easy tharpanam method is made up of 2 parts. The first part is what is known as Pitru Tarpanam and the second part is known as Karunya Tharpanam.

What is Pitru Tharpanam?

There are many spiritual debts that each one of us needs to pay every day. One of these is our daily debt to our ancestral beings known as pitrus. To pay off this debt, what we need to do daily is the worship procedure known as pitru tharpanam. This worship procedure is quite easy. You can do it in about 10 minutes or so. Pitru = one's ancestors. Tharpanam = to satisfy, to please. So pitru tharpanam = pleasing one's ancestors. In the pitru tharpanam procedure, we offer tharpanam to 12 of our most recently departed ancestors. These are our departed ancestors in our parental lines, i.e., departed parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. Departed uncles, grand uncles, aunts, grand aunts and others not in the parental lines are not coverd in the pitru tharpanam process. They are covered in the Karunya Tharpanam process described below. You can offer tharpanam for more than 12 of your departed ancestors, but that is more advanced and we don't cover that here in this easy tharpanam method.

What is Karunya Tharpanam?

Karunya Tharpanam is the second part of the tharpanam process. It is tharpanam offered to departed relatives, friends, strangers, pets, animals, birds, insects, creatures, plants, trees and other departed beings.

Six things you need for doing Tharpanam

1. A mat to sit on, preferably made of sacred Darbha grass (also known as Kusa grass). A wooden plank or clean cloth made of natural fibers such as cotton or wool can also be used as a mat. 2. A clean plate made of wood, copper, brass or silver. Glass and stainless steel are not appropriate. 3. Clean water in a wood, copper, brass or silver cup that is convenient to hold in your left hand. You may also want to have water in a separate bowl. Glass and stainless steel are not appropriate. 4. Black sesame seeds (ellu in Tamil, til in Hindi). If you are male, use black sesame seeds. If you are female, use white sesame seeds. Why so? The answer is in Sathguru Venkataraman's Siddha writings. 5. Dharba grass (also known as kusa grass and as dharbai). 6. Pavitram made of darbha grass (see image on this page) to be worn on the ring finger of

the right hand.

2 Lists You Need to Create

Apart from the above, you also need to create two lists: (i) a list of beings for whom you will be doing the pitru tharpanam ceremony and (ii) a list of beings for whom you will be doing kaarunya tharpanam. You will also need the mantras for pitru and karunya tarpanam. All these are described below.

Creating the List of 12 Most Recently Departed Ancestors

How do you list your 12 most recently departed ancestors? You list them 3 each from 4 ancestral lines as described below.
1. Paternal male ancestors, i.e., the male ancestors on your father's side. These are:
o o o o o o

F (father) FF (father's father) FFF (father's father's father) FFFF (father's father's father's father) FFFFF (father's father's father's father's father) and so on.

Pick the 3 most recently departed from this ancestral line and note down the names and the relationships. For example, let us assume that the father(F) and father's father(FF) are alive. In this case, the three most recently departed ancestors in this line will be: EXAMPLE: 3 Most Recently Departed Paternal male ancestors Which 1. 2. 3. Relationship FFF FFFF FFFFF Name (if known) Murugan Siva -not known-

2. Paternal female ancestors, i.e., the female ancestors on your father's side. These are:
o o o o o o

M (mother) FM (father's mother) FFM (father's father's mother) FFFM (father's father's father's mother) FFFFM (father's father's father's father's mother) and so on.

Pick the 3 most recently departed from this ancestral line and note down the names and the relationships. For example, let us assume that the father's mother(FM) and father's father's father's mother(FFFM) are alive. In this case, the three most recently departed ancestors in this line will be: EXAMPLE: 3 Most Recently Departed Paternal female ancestors Which 4. 5. 6. Relationship M FFM FFFFM Name (if known) Saraswati Lakshmi -not known-

3. Maternal male ancestors, i.e., the male ancestors on your mother's side. These are:
o o o o o o

MF (mother's father) MFF (mother's father's father) MFFF (mother's father's father's father) MFFFF (mother's father's father's father's father) MFFFFF (mother's father's father's father's father's father) and so on.

Pick the 3 most recently departed from this ancestral line and note down the names and the relationships. For example, let us assume that the mother's father's father(MFF) is alive. In this case, the three most recently departed ancestors in this line will be: EXAMPLE: 3 Most Recently Departed Maternal male ancestors Which 7. 8. 9. Relationship MF MFFF MFFFF Name (if known) Kumar Gopala Narayana

4. Maternal female ancestors, i.e., the female ancestors on your mother's side. These are:
o o o o o o

MM (mother's mother) MFM (mother's father's mother) MFFM (mother's father's father's mother) MFFFM (mother's father's father's father's mother) MFFFFM (mother's father's father's father's father's mother) and so on.

Pick the 3 most recently departed from this ancestral line and note down the names and the relationships. For example, let us assume that no one is alive in this ancestral line. In this case, the three most recently departed ancestors in this line will be: EXAMPLE: 3 Most Recently Departed Maternal female ancestors Which 10. 11. 12. Relationship MM MFM MFFM Name (if known) Valli Jyoti Devi

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Creating the List of Beings for Kaarunya Tharpanam

Having listed the 12 most recently departed ancestors, we should now list the departed souls for whom we should do karunya tharpanam, that is, departed friends, departed relatives (i.e., non-parental relatives), departed mentors and people you liked or respected, strangers, pets, animals, birds, insects, creatures, plants, trees, etc. Sathguru Venkataraman was emphatic that we should do karunya tharpanam for the grains, vegetables, fruits, herbs and other plant products that we have consumed. For those who consume (or have consumed) meat products, karunya tharpanam is that much more important and they must ceratinly do karunya tharpanam for the animals, birds and other creatures that they have consumed. EXAMPLE List of Beings for Kaarunya Tarpanam
(1. Beings you have known or whose relationship to you is known)

Relationship Name (if known) Uncle Ramesh Best Friend in College Suresh Algebra Teacher John Smith Pet Dog Lassie
(2. Beings you did not know or who were not connected to you as a relative, friend, mentor, etc.)

Kids who died in the Chennai Tsunami. People who died in 9/11 WTC. People who died in war. People who died in the accident I saw today. People who died in the earthquake yesterday. All plants, trees, vegetables, grains, etc. that died for the sake of feeding me. (For those who consume meat) All animals, birds and other creatures that died for the sake of feeding me. The above EXAMPLES can help you create your own list for your Kaarunya Tarpanam.

Mantra to be used for Pitru Tharpanam

as given by Sathguru Venkataraman
What we give below is the simplest mantra for use in the pitru tharpanam process. Actually, there are specific mantras for each of the 12 ancestors. Doing Pitru tharpanam with these 12 specific mantras is highly effective. For these mantras, refer to Sathguru Venkataraman's Siddha writings. Now, here is the easy pitru tharpana mantra.

The Pitru Tarpanam Grid of Dharbha Grass

12 tips for the 12 most recently departed ancestors

The Tharpanam Procedure Itself

Here are the steps for doing tharpanam:

1. Light at least two jyoti oil lamps or ghee lamps. 2. Spread the mat and sit facing east. 3. Pray to Lord Ganesh first and then to Lord Surya Narayana who is the Lord of the pitru ancestral beings. Request them to bless the tarpanam pooja that you are about to perform. 4. Place the plate in front of you and arrange the tharpanam grid (made of dharbha grass) as shown above . First place the 3 vertical strips of darbha grass and then the 3 horizontal strips. Each line shown above should have a minimum of 3 darbha grass strips. Since there are 6 lines in total, you need a minimum of 6 x 3 = 18 darbha grass strips. Now you can see that there are 12 tips in total, 3 at the top, 3 at the bottom, 3 on the right and 3 on the left. The top 3 tips represent the 3 most recently departed male ancestors on the father's side. The bottom 3 tips represent the 3 most recently departed female ancestors on the father's side. The 3 tips on the right represent the 3 most recently departed male ancestors on the mother's side. The 3 tips on the left represent the 3 most recently departed female ancestors on the mother's side. 5. With all your heart, request exalted pitru ancestral beings to be present in this tharpanam grid and accept the humble offerings that you are about to give. Now you are ready to do the actual tharpanam ceremony.